Pioneering runs deeply in Jean’s blood. Her Sherwin paternal family helped save the buffalo in Colorado; and her grandfather Len Sherwin instituted and produced a traveling Wild West Show around 1904. Jean’s personal ranching/cowboy legacy was honored at the American Cowboy Culture Awards during the 2010 National Cowboy Symposium & Celebration in Lubbock, TX. Jean’s life is working hard on the historic 4W Ranch, where beef has been raised since the late 1880s. Beef to be sold was trailed horseback cross-country roughly 60 miles to railroad shipping yards at Dewey, South Dakota. In-the-saddle management of
that event fell on Jean from an early age, with elders hopefully catching up with a vehicle toting beds and grub before the first nightfall. Now into her 8th decade, Jean continues to help run the 4W Ranch Family Limited Partnership from horseback, four- wheeler, and pickup, handling any ranching duty that arises – feeding, doctoring, branding, fencing, managing water, cooking big meals for branding – whatever is needed.
Jean Harshbarger
